Titanium oxde and tungsten oxide contining catalyst



- or tungstic acid.

TITANIUM OXDE AND TUNGSTEN OXID CON'IlINlNG CATALYST Peter William Reyrlds and Laurence Roy Pittwell,

Norton-on-lees, Egland, assignors to Imperial Chemical Industries Luned, a corporation of Great Britain N Drawing. hplication February 21, 1949, Sial No. 77,678

Claims pri application Great Britain F luary 27, 1948 6 Claim. (Cl. 252469) This invention rel to catalysts which are particu- 3 useful In y t and dehydration reactions.

latent In co-pending vecification, Serial No. 762,794,

now abandoned, there illescribed and claimed a process for the Pmductlon 0f ropanol by reacting water and P py at filevated peratures, in the presence of a y contamlng e oxide of tungsten which has 'a formula approximating w We have now f catalysts which contain oxides of tungsten and yn in intimate admixture have markedly l p actlvl for the hydration of olefins and for the hw Oflcghols Accol'flmg to t e P1656 invention, therefore, there are p catalysts for t hydration of olefines or the dehydration, h comprise an intimate admlxture of tltanlum oxide w, a tungsten id h positionpf which approxima that f 1 0 {E1118 speclficafioniha tpression intimate admix- 9 nean the bringing together the 'OXldeS of tltamllm n tungsten in close associatwn y methods q t n ly the mechanical mixing of anhydrous tltalllj} W \vry talline tungsten trioxide T mere mlxmg ht ihi dioxide with blue oxide of tungsten, tungsten tr-loxid i id b fm-e pelletmg has been shown to Gduce only a Slight i crease in the activity of the tmgsten compounds i. tamum oxide alone is relatively inactive. The nature .of t-he interaction ig/ intimate admixtures of titanium oxide and the tum n oxide is not under stood but the phenomenon is bei d broadly to be h of promotion. 1 The catalysts off the present gnufiq may be Prepared ll'lVflIlOllSWEIYS,-016X3II1P6 i p 1 pelleted or extruded titania g l 'pregnatmg'powdemd tungsta-te and heating in a reducir l m e ethanol vapour or hydrogen) to snvert e f h compound to what is approximatel W 0 T monlum may be removed prior to re gi by i i h but this is not essential; i-both steps m b l ed m; simultaneously. Owing tc-- the low rflubilify 13m. monium paratungstate iti-is, however, ammonium metatungstate. Deeatungsta balm tun'gstates may also be used.

Another procedure, which gives a in the unreduced state approximately tio 3), is to add an aqueous solution of metatungstate to one of titanium tetrachloride 1 1 3 2 2353 able conditions to produce a gel which is then tried d heated to drive off ammoniumchloride and redu d i a reducing atmosphere. The catalysts of the prcs t i vention may also be prepared by the intermediate u non of a solution of a heterepolyacid or a heteropolr id salt containmg titanium and tungsten in the acid ra ci al for example an ammonium titanotungstate or an im: monlurtndtungstotltanatleJ which is sprayed upon, or i pregna e into, a suita le su o titania, and then heated to pp It for example slhca uredulfed in a reducing atmosphere.

T e catalysts may also be pre ared b im titania with silicotungstic acid or by inthnate ly tqix i g titania hydrogel with aqueous ammonium metatungstate or ammonium paratungstate and subsequently heating in a reducing atmosphere to reduce the tungsten compounds tth ammonium para- T d and en trioxide drive ofi the ammonia and ice to the oxide. Commercial rutile or anatase may, if desired, be used instead of titania gel.

It is preferable in all cases to avoid the use or presence of alkali metal compounds, or, it they have been used or are present, to effect very completely the removal of any residual alkali metals, as these are powerful poisons for the catalysts of this invention.

It is also a feature of the present invention to provide a Proce to: the ehydration of alcohols to pr dus t cor espondin ol fine a d/er ether b pa sin the alsohel a ele ated tempe a ure and at tmo phe o su er atmosp eric pr ssure over a seta v t om risi g an i ti mate admix u e o itanium ox e i h tun s e aside, he composition at hich pproximates that o W295 t is a further fea ure er th invent n o Provide a process for the hydration of olefines to produce the corresponding alcohols by reacting the olefines with water at elevated temperature and pressure in the pres- .ence of a cat lyst omprisin an intima e a mistu e of titan um ox de w a ungsten as e the mmpqsi on at hich approximat s that o W205i.

The invention is fu th r llust a ed by the t llowin example Exampl 1 Pelleted titania gel was prepared as follows:

4.75 kilograms oi titanium tetrachloride were cautiously diluted by the addition of mls. of distilled water, While being stirred. To this was added, stirring, a slight excess of 0.88 aqueous ammonia to a final value of -9. The precipitated hydr ogcl was Washed free of ammonium chloride, dried at (3., then calcined for 4 hours at 400 C. The product was ground to pass 100 B. S. mesh sieve, i. and, after the addition of 2% .Of graphite as a lubricant, was pelleted in the form of 1s" x M? cylinders under a,preS- sure of 38 tons per square inch.

Example 2 Eramlt T P o t E pl th un used lp qs u t at Exampl 2 an a s mp o im l r pellet o satin a d :12WO: et cha ge n m to a g as ta and reduced in e an l vapo r at 00 After the reduction was comp e t e-ca a ysts e es ed fq t eir ,efiiciency in the dehydration of ethanol at300 Q, ,psing a liquid space velocity of 4 hrsthat is, 4-volurnes of eth n l p vo u :o a a ys -,spa q pe hourh P yields o ethy e e a th o t i d were as rene Percent; pass yield Ethylene Ether Titania gel as prepared in Example 1 2. 9 6.1 20% tungsten as oxide on titania gel as prepared in Example 2 55. 6 13. 7 Tungstlc acid (H2WO4) 49.0 12. 4

Example 4 450 ml. samples of the same materials as in Example 3 were reduced in ethanol vapour at 300 C. and at atmospheric pressure and tested in propylene hydration at 230 C. and C. under 250 ats. total pressure using a constant feed of 0.5 litre per hour of water and i 1.0 litre (under 250 ats.) per hour of propylene. The pass yields of isopropanol obtained were as follows:

A small amount of polymerisation occurred in each case, but the loss of propylene in this manner was not excessive. The very high activity of the tungsten oxide on titania catalyst is evident from these results. It exhibited no evidence of deterioration after 200 hours continuous processing, actually improving somewhat during the first 60 hours of operaton to the activity shown in the above table.

. Example 5 A highly active tungsten oxide-titanium oxide catalyst which contained approximately equimolar proportions of titanium dioxide and tungsten trioxide or their reduction products was prepared as follows:

0.57 kg. of titanium tetrachloride was slowly cautiously added to distilled water to produce asolution containing 100 gms. of TiCl4 per 100 mls. of solution. 3.37 kgs. of ammonium meta-tungstate were dissolved in 3 litres of distilled water and slowly added to the aqueous titanium'tetrachloride with vigorous stirring. The mixture gelled on standing. The jelly was dried at 120 C. and ignited for 12 hours at 250 C. and 30 hours at 400 C. to drive off the ammonium chloride. The product was crushed to pass 16 B. S. mesh, i. e. about lOOOgand, after the addition of 2% of graphite as lubricant, was pelleted under a pressure of 7 tons per square inch to Mr x 4;" cylinders. The product was reduced in ethanol vapour at 300 C. before use.

Example 6 A concentrated aqueous solution of ammonium titanotungstate was prepared as follows:

One gram-molecular weight of ammonium paratungstate was dissolved in distilled Water and one quarter of a gram-molecular weight of quickly washed, freshly precipitated titania hydrogel added to the solution. The

and

4 r particulatp titania gel with a compound selected from the group corsisting of ammonium paratingstate, ammon um decatungstate, ammonium orthotungitate and ammonium metatu gstate, and heating the proluct so obtained in a redn'mg atmosphere to convert th'. tungsten compound into aiioxide of tungsten, the COlTlIOSlilOl'l of which approximates that of W205.

2. A process for preparing a catlyst suitable for use in reactions altering the content of he elements of water in chemically equivalent quantitiestorm ng arts of the molecule of organic compounds umprismg intimately mixing titania hydrogel with an aquousammomum tungstate compound and subsequentlyheatmg said intimate admixture to convert the tunsten ctnpound into an oxide of tungsten, the composition of WllCh approximates that of W205.

3. A process for preparing a otfllyst suitable for use in reactions altering the content olhe elements of water in chemically equivalent quantitis forming parts of the molecule of organic compounds mpnsmg impregnating titania with silicotungstic ac q n ly heating mixture was boiled undenrefiux for 48 hoursand the A small amount of residual titania filtered off. The solu tion of ammonium titanotungstate was concentrated by evaporation to a glassy mass.

This product may be redissolved in water and sprayed upon or impregnated into a suitable support, or the glass may be further ignited at 400 C. to drive off the ammonia, and the residue, after the addition of 2% of graphite as lubricant, was pelleted under a pressure of 52 tons per square inch to /3 x a cylindrical pellets. The product in either case is reduced before use as in Example 5.

We claim:

1. A process for preparing a catalyst suitable for use in reactions altering the content of the elements of water in chemically equivalent quantities forming parts of the molecule of organic compounds comprising impregnating eleting b sub'ectin gi-i f at lelast g iximatey 50 tons per square inch.

References g i'n the file of this patent UNITED QFATES IATENTS Number V Date Re. 20,739 Metz'gef May 24, 1938 1,314,952 Ellis Sept. 2, 1919 1,682,242 Patric e 28, 1928 1,773,273 Mille 19, 1930 1,977,633 Hor y Oct 23, 1934 2,016,169 Gr' h Oct 1, 193 2 132 613 icon Oct. 11, 1938 2,157,965 Pv y 9, 1939 2 209 99 strangelo July 30, 1940 2 274, 34 vcard -J. May 3, 1942 2,323,059 rlraig Aug. 31, 1943 2,345, 00 jHeard Apr. 4, 1944 41537 Hale Feb. 18, 1947 432 23 Claussen Dec. 9, 1947 in chemically equivalent quai rming parts of the the product so obtained to cov the tungsten compound to a tungsten oxide, 2.11 h ng the product in a reducing atmosphere to I'Bdlf tungsten oxide to one whose composition appro m s that Of W205.

4. A process for preparing. catalyst sultable for use in reactions altering the contei 0f the m nts of water:

molecule of organic compouf prising formin alkali metal free intimate 'ad of a titani and a tunsten-containing cd psund select group consisting of an am l g l l f 3 cotungstic' acid and thereaftr L116 531d mlxtul'e 111 a reducing atmosphere to cc the g t compoufld i to an id f the composition of which a roximates that of 205? 5 1 h process f Iii WllCl'ElH the tungsten oxide isin the form of a drier 2*? Qbtalned by addmg an aqueous solution of amrf metakungstate to an aqueous solution of titanfi tetmchlond? l producing a g drying igcl, and heating said gel to drive off ammonium chln I V 6. A process as in clanh lk free intimate admixture isl?'? to a furfher p of id intmate admixture to a 

1. A PROCESS FOR PREPARING A CATALYST SUITABLE FOR USE IN REACTIONS ALTERING THE CONTENT OF THE ELEMENTS OF WATER IN CHEMICALLY EQUIVALENT QUANTITIES FORMING PARTS OF THE MOLECULE OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS COMPRISING IMPREGNATING PARTICULATE TITANIA GEL WITH A COMPOUND SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF AMMONIUM PARATUNGSTATE, AMMONIUM DECATUNGSTATE, AMMONIUM ORTHOTUNGSTATE AND AMMONIUM METATUNGSTATE, AND HEATING THE PRODUCT SO OBTAINED IN A REDUCING ATMOSPHERE TO CONVERT THE TUNGSTEN COMPOUND INTO AN OXIDE OF TUNGSTEN, THE COMPOSITION OF WHICH APPROXIMATES THAT OF W2O5. 